POST-WAR AVIATION
By MARK FIFE In order to temper the icy wind of change, nations might first be asked to define air-lanes over their national territory. The purpose of these lanes would not be, as in the past, primarily restrictive, but to give greater freedom to aircraft flying on their lawful occasions, by forming a world-wide trunk system of trans-continental and trans-oceanic air-routes. Included in this system would be certain specified air-ports. The great point about this comprehensive plan would be that such matters as beacons, homing devices and other forms of navigational aid, safety measures and meteorological services could be made uniform throughout and brought under the control of an executive International Air Authority. The scope of this authority should extend even further. Within the limits of the specified air-lanes and air-ports, aircraft and their loads should be under its control, free even of national Customs and passport regulations. Experience suggests, too, that aircraft could often better serve mankind if the principle were accepted of allowing foreigners to pick up, carry and deliver passengers and freight between points lying within national territory, at least for a start, so long as such traffic were confined to the international trunk air-route system.
A study of air transport will suggest that its development should,
in the future, be encouraged along two separate lines---regular and non-regular services. Regular services have hitherto generally com- bined the carriage of passengers and mails, although efficiency could probably be better served by keeping them separate. On long- distance services passengers alone have rarely been a paying pro- position, and air-mail has been the main source of revenue. With subsidised monopolies especially, passengers have accordingly some- times been regarded as of secondary importance and their needs have received insufficient study. There are reasons why passengers have not paid a dividend, but no grounds for assuming that they ncrer will.
The mere fact of taking to the air, for example, often induces
a speed-complex. Unnecessary and irritating delay may consequently have a definite psyChological effect, such as impatience, a sense of frustration or even a positive distaste for air-travel. It should not be impossible to give passengers at least the illusion of smooth, swift and efficient movement, until finally delivered at their destina- tion. Another factor liable to discourage passengers is that, with seasonal fluctuations in traffic volume and fleets limited to a small number of large units, it has often been impossible fully to meet peak demands. Between Europe and India, for instance, traffic is far heavier at the beginning and end of the leave season than in mid-summer or mid-winter.
Air-travel appeals generally to those who have urgent and sudden reasons for getting somewhere quickly. The frequency of service needed to deal with this class of business has, however, often been lacking. Yet increased frequency has sometimes brought in un- expected profits, a fact that the Americans have been quick to appreciate, as shown by the report that American interests plan an hourly trans-Atlantic service after the war—the right idea, even if at first it fails to show a profit. A seemingly minor point has keen the small amount of personal luggage allowed passengers by air ; a liberal increase should help to make air-travel more popular. And finally, except in America, trans-continental flights have been inter- rupted' by darkness. This has been because nations have failed to agree on a universal system of lighting and other aids to night flying. On long journeys these halts amount to many hours of needlessly wasted time.
So much for passengers. A study of freight shows that traffic between industrial centres and areas .producing raw materials has been affected by two factors—first, a low standard of living in many countries given to primary production ; second, the availability of appropriate loads in only one direction. Machine parts, tools, cameras, drugs, toilet articles, instruments, radio sets, stationery, books, periodicals and other products of the industrial world offer a market to the air-freighter. On the other hand, farm products, canned goods, timber, rubber, tea, tobacco, copra, cotton, wool, oil, crude ores and suchlike do not. There are signs that after the war the tendency may be for more countries to develop industries, and it is to be hoped that in many British colonies standards of living will rise. Commerce between industrial countries includes much that can be carried by air, and a higher living standard implies a larger market for manufactured goods. Each of these changes should, if they come about, bring benefit to 'aviation: Non-regular services should be regarded as supplementary rather than in opposition to the regular. Their aim should be to provide air-transport whenever and wherever required. While the regulars would be roughly analogous to our main mail and passenger shipping lines, the non-regulars, while catering for all classes of traffic and operating at an equal speed, might,- in their readiness to go any- where, be compared with tramp services at sea. Governmen1 sup- port should not, in the future, be confined to regulars. This does not necessarily mean direct subsidies. to the non-regulars, but helping them by encouraging official passengers and goods to use the air. Nor should the regulars have the exclusive right to carry mail. When the volume of mail, passenger or goods traffic exceeds the normal, the non-regulars should be called-upon to help.
This will not free non-regulars from the burden of developing their own business. On the contrary, theY will have to co-operate among themselves in undertaking traffic research and establishihg effective links with potential passengers and shippers. The avoidance of empty return trips will be one of the many problems they will have to solve. World-wide operations will make necessary world- wide contacts, such as have been already established by British shipping. This suggests the advantages of an intimate tie-up between shipping and aviation interests. In selecting their equipment, non- regulars should bear in mind the need for adaptability, and choose the number of units and their type accordingly. To begin with, the type should have two engines, giying an ample reserve of power and a cruising speed of 25o miles per hour. It should be able to take off in temperate air at sea-level in about 8no yards. Internal
fittings should be stowable, so that the aircraft can pro- vide either oomfortable accommodation for from eight to ien passengers or have plenty of space for ft eight. It should• be designed with internal tankage that can be easily increased or reduced, accord- ing to the length of stages to be flown. Its disposable load should vary from, say, 3,000 lbs. to 7,000 lbs., according to the fuel and oil that must be carried. It should be possible to produce something of this type very soon after the war. Jet propulsion and pressure cabins may come later.
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